Antichthon
by CII
Summary: Since the time of the Greeks, it has been speculated that there was a planet on the opposite side of the sun. Now, that myth has become a reality when the global network went down, causing chaos on Earth. Dinosaucers
1. The Rover

**The Rover**

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, there have been speculations of the mystery planet that resides on the opposite side of the Sun. Though it seemed illogical that the Sun would have an opposite side being that it is spherical and that the Earth revolves around it. However, this planet was theorized to have an L3 point which counter balanced Earth's orbit. This planet would never be seen visually, but could be detected by the effects on gravitational pulls of other planets coming near it such as Venus or Mars. Though the Greeks only theorized this planet to exist, it was not until the mid 40s that such a planet was discovered to be effecting the orbits of Venus and Mars. Earth knew there was something out there that resided on the counter side of Earth's orbit, but because of the Sun's position, the celestial body was completely obscured from it. But Earth knew it was there. And so, it was given the name of Antichthon, after the mythological planet that was supposed to be the counter weight of Earth during the cosmology of Ancient Greece. Antichthon means 'Counter-Earth' in Greek, and it was a suitable name for this mystery planet. Though because of the sun obscuring the view, Earth's astronomers could only speculate what the planet looked like. It would be a few more decades before they could send anything out that could get a good picture of the planet. Though that did not keep the imagination of humans from making up various stories about what came from the planet or conspiracy theorists from speculating that the alien sightings seen could be from that planet. One particular conspiracy revolved around the Roswell incident. The myth stated that an alien craft crashed in New Mexico and three aliens were found. Both they and their space craft were taken to Area 51 for study. Two of the aliens died in the crash, the third died a few days later. The United States Government made an official statement that the incident was a weather balloon, but that did not keep people from searching for more alien life. Various probes to Mars and Venus swung around the sun and even saw Antichthon as they headed for their destinations. The images that were brought back showed that the planet looked very much like Earth. It had blue oceans and sky, two moons, and various large land masses and continents. The probes detected that it even had breathable oxygen. But these images were blurry at the most. Galileo going to Jupiter managed to take some quick snapshots of the enigmatic planet. However, all the snapshots and readings these probes managed to get only found that the planet was habitable, but no evidence of intelligent life—or so the average Joe thought. Much of NASA's images that were taken of Antichthon were hidden from the public. Still, in order to placate them, some wide shots of the planet were made. It was a pretty blue ball, just like Earth. It was practically Earth's twin, even more so than Venus was. So, Antichthon was often referred to as Sister Earth.

Though many probes were sent out to the various points of the Solar System, no probe had yet landed on Antichthon. Finally, NASA had decided to send a probe to Antichthon. A team was selected for this job, a mixture of civilian and military scientists gathered together to create this probe. One of the scientists among them was a physicist with a background in computer programming named Major Jane Spencer. She was also a Ph.D, though however when she was in uniform, she was called 'Major' not 'Doctor'. Outside the uniform she was called 'Doctor' and she made that clear to anyone who spoked to her. Jane was a pretty, nicely sculpt woman with golden blonde hair that hung below her shoulders. On the job, she normally wore it in a bun behind her head. She had a husband who was a computer programmer named Ben, who currently worked for a bank, and two children, fraternal twins named Ryan and Sarah. Both kids shared their mother's blonde hair, though Sarah had a shade lighter than her brother. Jane's job soon got in the way of her relationship with her husband and children and they finally left her. Ben signed the divorce papers and took the kids with him. He could not stand the fact that the kids would have to move where ever their mother got an assignment. It was best they would stay in one place. Jane felt it was best as well and gladly gave up custody of her children, only seeing them ever so once and a while during vacation time and holidays.

The probe was called Trojan. The project itself was five years in the making and it took two months for the probe to even reach its destination. The first thing it was programmed to do was to go into an orbit around the planet and then drop a rover onto its surface much like its cousin did for Mars. Then, it would just continue orbiting, taking pictures of the planet's Earth-like surface. From NASA's base in Florida, Jane and the other mixed batch of scientists and military personnel watched as the rover descended down. The transmission was lapsed. They new that the rover had already sat down onto the planet's surface many hours before they even received the transmission. They watched intently as the rover hit and flipped over onto the rocky surface. It bounced a few feet before settling down and the balloons deflating. Finally, the rover was about, set loose from its protective shell and rolled around, commanded by an engineer back at NASA. There was a 6 minute lag between the commands of the operator and the movement of the rover, but it was good enough. Images came back to NASA showing a dry, desert landscape with a few tumble weed brush plants scattered here and there. They new that the rover had landed in a badlands area of the planet. They started taking soil samples of the planet, finding that it was rich in nitrogen and various other nutrients that were needed to even grow plants. It was indeed an Earth-like planet. Antichthon proved without a doubt to be a planet that NASA tended on sending a manned mission just as soon as more money came in later. Already they started to record the video they received from the rover.

"The images look good, Major," said one of the scientists.

"I know," Jane replied. "I'm really happy about this. Robert, see if you can get the rover to climb over that rock."

"Yes, ma'am," Robert replied, typing in the commands for the rover to start moving. A few minutes later, the commands were received and the rover started moving. It reared back on its rear wheels and inched its front wheels upon the rock, using its center wheels to help guide it up. As soon as it was level, the camera glanced around again, zooming in on the land formations that were scattered across the landscape.

"Looks like Utah," said Robert.

"I wouldn't doubt it," said Jane. "The atmosphere is so very similar to ours, I wouldn't doubt that Antichthon would have similar rock formations like Earth does. But look at those plants though. They almost look—prehistoric."

"Different planet, different looking plants, Major," began a voice walking up behind her. Jane swung around to find Major-General Wallace Emerson walking up behind her.

"General, sir," she turned to face him and saluted.

"Major," the general saluted back. "How are we?"

"Going good, sir," she replied. "So far. The rover landed in badlands country."

"Well, there seems to be enough for it to look at," he sighed. "Though I was hoping for a forest or a jungle."

"More biodiversity there," said Robert. "But this is as good a place as any to look around."

They gathered the data that the rover sent back. More and more the general began to suspect that a manned mission could be plausible. Jane crossed her arms and leaned against the table behind her, watching the screen as the rover continued to look around. Then, the a shadow suddenly move towards it, coving part of the rover up.

"What's that?" Jane asked.

"A cloud?" asked Emerson. "Robert, have a look round."

"Yes, sir," he said as he commanded the rover's camera to glance up. The camera began to shake at the sound of vibrations coming towards it. The camera managed to look up and saw this shadowy form standing in front of it.

"What is that?" Emerson asked.

"Local wildlife?" Jane asked.

The shadowy figure appeared to stand on two legs and it even had a tail. Robert commanded the rover to take as many pictures as it could of this strange creature. Just then, the creature raised its foot and slammed down upon the rover, abruptly ending its transmission.

"Holy hell..." breathed Robert. "Uh, sir?"

"Sir," began Jane.

"Did you get a picture of what that was, Robert?" asked Emerson.

"Yes, sir," he said.

The other scientists standing around and personnel at their stations stood up in their seats with slack-jawed expressions.

"General?" Jane asked. "What was it?"

"I don't know," he replied. "But did you see what happened? That thing paused for a moment to look at the rover. Then, it stepped on it. An animal wouldn't do that. We'll need to gather a team together. Biologists mostly."

"Uh, sir?" began Robert. "That thing kinda looked reptilian. It had a thick tail like a reptile would have."

"But it stood on two legs, with its legs underneath its body," said Jane. "What reptile do we know of that does that?"

"Alive today?" Robert asked.

"Alive any day," said Jane.

"Dinosaur?" Robert shrugged.

"Alright, so we'll bring in a paleontologist," Emerson sighed. "It couldn't hurt. I wanna know what that thing was." Then, he turned around and walked away, his weathered face holding a deep somber expression. _My God. It's them._

"The press will be wanting to know what happened to the mission," began Jane.

"Tell them we were off on our calculations and the craft burned up in the atmosphere," Emerson replied. "It failed. These images are not to leave this room, understood? What you saw here also doesn't leave this room."

"Yes, sir," Jane nodded. "What about Trojan? The satellite in orbit around Antichthon?"

"We are still getting images from it," said Robert. "Hey, Quincy, see if you can get any feedback from Trojan."

"Sure," Quincy said over his monitor as he pulled up the data from Trojan. "Well, we've got a good look at the surface. Pretty, blue, just like our planet."

Jane glanced up at the large screen in the front of the control room. Then, she saw some sort of bright flash emanating from the side. The camera turned and saw a dark shape and a blue-white light heading straight for the lens. After that, Trojan's images fizzled and then blacked out.

"Uh," Quincy began. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Can you get the feed back?" Robert asked.

"No," said Quincy. "It's gone. It's like—Trojan was shot out of the sky."

"That too doesn't leave this room," said Emerson. "Camera malfunctioned due to debris in its orbit. It's not repairable. The mission is lost. We'll put together our scientists to see what that thing was. That is all. Nothing more." With that, he left the control room.

"I guess we chalk this up to Pentagon's File 13," Robert sighed. "Just like the UFO incidents and Area 51."

"Man, Roswell never happened," said Quincy. "It's just some story the UFO nuts made up because they're sad, lonely, and have too much time on their hands."

"What do yo think, Major?" Robert asked.

"After what just happened," she began. "I don't know."

"Major, could I speak with you in my office," began Emerson as he walked with Jane down the hallway.

"Yes, sir," she nodded. Jane followed him down down to his office which was at the far end of the hallway. As she walked in, she took notice of some paper clippings on a bulletin board showing Roswell's incident in 1947. She saw the weather balloon that the military men were holding up to show that it was a weather balloon crash and not some space craft from another planet. Emerson motioned for her to sit down as he sat down as well. He glanced behind him and placed his hand on a black filing cabinet with a numerical bad on it. Jane suspected that this was a filing cabinet that he kept a lot of his secret documents in. Then, he pressed in the code and the cabinet opened up. Feeling around for the file he wanted, he shuffled through the vanilla folders until he reached one and pulled it out. It had a red stamp on it that read 'Top Secret' and a yellow tape seal. With one snap of his finger, he broke the seal and glanced back up at Jane. Emerson still held that somber expression.

"This is not to leave this office," he began.

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

"You know of the Roswell incident?" Emerson asked.

"Yes, sir," she said. "It was a weather balloon that crashed."

"Well, that's what the government wants you to believe," he stated flatly. "But what do you really believe?"

"Maybe they weren't all that off about UFOs, sir?" Jane asked.

Emerson nodded and opened the folder. He pulled out a black and white photograph of a large, metallic ship leaning on its side. It was shaped somewhat saucer-like, but a bit more advanced looking than anything any 50s science fiction movie of that time could pull out. The front end was smashed. The ship was parked at an Air Force base. Jane suspected that was Dreamland, also known as Area 51.

"That's the UFO," said Emerson. "And these are the aliens who drove it."

He pulled out another photo and handed it to Jane. It was a picture of the three aliens that operated the craft. There were three aliens. They looked reptilian at first to Jane, but upon closer inspection, they were actually saurian. One of the creatures had a symbol on its chest, some sort of dragon-like creature coiling up in the shape of a letter 'D'.

"Sir?" she asked.

"Dinosaurs," said Emerson. "Intelligent, anthropomorphic dinosaurs—from another planet. I had a paleontologist look at these and also swear to secrecy. This one, he says, is an Edmontosaur, this one over here is a Mosasaur, and over here, this one is an Albertosaur, a close relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex."

"With all due respect, sir," began Jane. "That sounds like some horrible B-movie or a plot for some tripped-out 80s cartoon."

"I know," he sighed. "But they are real."

"Where are they from?" she asked.

"Where do you think, Major?" Emerson asked.

"Antichthon?" Jane asked.

Antichthon, the Counter-Earth," Emerson nodded. "In more ways than one. It's like our opposite. While mammals are the dominant species here, it seems that dinosaurs are the dominant species there. Whatever it was that killed the dinosaurs here didn't happen there."

"Then, that creature that stepped on the rover was..." began Jane.

"A dinosaur," Emerson nodded. "Bringing in a trustworthy paleontologist would be a good idea. We can identify what that thing was with his help."

"Why are you showing me this, sir?" she asked.

"Because," he replied. "It was on a need to know basis, and for you to continue your work, you need to know."

"I understand, sir," she nodded.

"We studied the craft," began Emerson. "Found out that it was actually a scouting space craft from Antichthon. They were just observing us, apparently. The space ship didn't have any heavy weapons, just a few cannons here to of course defend itself in case it was attacked. Which is what happened. We found carbon scoring from some sort of plasma weapon that was fired at its aft section. Something shot that craft down. We don't know what it was."

"Why was it observing us?" asked Jane.

"Same reason why we sent a probe to their world," said Emerson. "They're curious about us. It's possible that they've visited Earth a few times before, observing from afar, never really landing. They probably don't want to upset whatever balance that's on our planet, or cause any type of scare among us."

"So, why was this ship shot down?" Jane asked.

"I don't know," replied Emerson. "But before the Albertosaur died, he whispered something to one of the personnel who took him to the base. He said 'Tyrannos'. I have no idea what that meant. It's probably their language for 'enemy' or something. It's all in the file. These guys were obviously not military themselves. Just a civilian science ship. But from their ship's technology is how we were able to augment and boost our own."

"Sir?" Jane asked.

"Everything, from stealth bombers and tanks right down to PDAs, cell phones, wrist watches, iPods, computers," Emerson said. "All came from that ship's technology. We can't reproduce their propulsion system to make their ships go, but their computer hardware, we were able to reproduce. That ship was built for stealth flight, keeping themselves out of our sight so that they could observe us without disturbing us." He glanced down at the images. "If they wanted to take over our planet, they would have already done so. So far, they've just left us alone."

"Do they pose a threat?" Jane asked.

"With their type of technology?" Emerson began. "It's no doubt. But I as I stated, if they wanted to conquer us, they would have already done so. They probably just want to leave us be. And it's a good idea that we would do the same."

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

"Major," he began as he put up the photos and the file back into the cabinet. "Go home for tonight. Get some rest. Have a day off tomorrow to get you mentally prepared for the meeting the next day. I'm bringing in every specialist I can think of and I want you prepared for it."

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

"Remember, not a word about this," Emerson said as Jane got up.

"Yes, sir," she nodded again.

"Dismissed," he said.


	2. The Satellite

**The Satellite**

Glistening stars flickered across the hull of the magnificent and enormous battle carrier the _Y'thcor_. She was the finest in Tyranno military technology, a flag ship in the fleet Yar'thrak. Such a ship armed with various photon torpedoes, plasma cannons, energy disrupters, and filled to the brim with various vehicles, drop ships, shuttles, and star-fighters of various classifications, was a marvel of engineering and a testimony of the advance technology belonging to the Tyrannos. No force could reckon with the might of this ship. Around the carrier were various classes of star ships, two destroyers, and two battle cruisers. A corvette hovered just above the carrier, surrounded by a flight of star-fighters. Another battle group of star-fighters kept in formation below the carrier. She was armed, she was deadly, and she was also protected. The battle group had just returned from hyperspace from Alpha Eradanus, a system with only one habitable world. This world was controlled by a rebel faction who opposed Tyranno rule. At least, they did oppose Tyranno rule. Eradanus was obliterated by this fleet, per the orders of the fleet's supreme commander Genghis Rex. Though the brilliant strategist knew that there were some rebels that remained, especially on their home-world. And that bothered Rex so. For almost 500 years, Reptilon was controlled by the Tyrannos. Before the time of their rule, Reptilon was much different, controlled by peaceful, pacifistic regime known as the Dyrios. 500 years since, it seem that the descendants of the Dyrios are starting to pop up again and gain power amongst the stars, but this time, they shrugged off their pacifistic code for something with a little more bite in order to take down Tyranno rule. The Tyranno hold on the Reptilonian Empire was beginning to slip because of the rebel descendants of the Dyrios, who began to call themselves the Dinosaucers. Dinosaucers, a name that so far is the only proper translation that would fit them in English. It was a name that the Tyrannos often made fun of as well. Dinosaucers sounded more like something that would go under a cup of Joe than a fearsome rebel force.

To anyone who studied extinct creatures, the crew of the_ Y'thcor _looked to have some sort of relationship with dinosaurs. In fact, that was more than truthful. The citizens of Reptilon were descendants of dinosaurs. Genghis Rex was what he considers himself an evolved Tyrannosaurus Rex. His head was shaped like that of a Tyrannosaur, and he had the powerful legs of his ancestor, and he walked with digigrade, on the toes of his feet, like a theropod would. His scales were crimson and molted brown and his eyes were a striking chartreuse. Framing his box-like, chiseled chin was a ruff of auburn feathers, which belied his relationship to birds. He wore a black uniform like all officers in the Tyranno Space Command. Enlisted men wore dark gray. Because of his high rank, he had gold trimmings around the collar. Below his command station was his helmsmen Ankylo and Edmont, who had the nickname of "Quack-pot" because he often played jokes on the other crew members, much to Rex's dismay. Ankylo claimed ancestry to the spiny-backed and club-tailed thyreophor known as Ankylosaurs and Quack-pot was a descendant from Hadrosaurs. Above was tactical which was commanded by Brachio. Brachio claimed his lineage from the massive, long-necked Brachiosaur. Behind him was the science officer Plesio who claimed his heritage from the Styxosaurs, long-necked aquatic reptiles that were not dinosaurs, but existed at the same time as the dinosaurs back on Earth. Though his ancestors had flippers, their descendants like Plesio developed dexterous claws which included opposable thumbs and also legs and feet. The bridge of the carrier was bathed in crimson light, a favorite color of the Tyrannos. On the other side was communications which was operated by Styraco, a spiny evolved ceratopsian who talked rather in a rushed and grating voice. Styraco's black eyes lit up when he heard his holographic control pad beep at him. Pressing his clawed, orange-scaled hand upon the flashing light, he listened into the message that soon flowed into his earbud. Then, he swung around back to his commanding officer.

"Supreme Commander!" he called. "A message from HICOM."

"Yes, what is it?" Genghis Rex asked.

"It's Chancellor Dei," he replied. "She wants to speak to you."

Rex caught himself in mid thought and then straightened out his collar: "On main view screen."

The holographic screen flashed on in front with the image of a rather enraged dromaesaur with yellowish green scales and dark green feathered crest upon her head.

"The humans finally did it!" she hissed. "The humans finally sent a probe to our planet!"

"So?" whispered Ankylo under his breath, taking little interest in this news.

"What was that?" Dei called. "Who said 'so'?"

"Idiot!" Rex called. "Show some respect to the Chancellor."

"Yes, sir," the club-tailed reptilianoid snorted.

"What my dimwitted helmsman means is why is it very important to you that the humans sent a probe to Reptilon?" Rex cleared his throat. "They've sent probes to every part of the solar system without a single one of them even coming across our various bases. We've hidden them so well."

"Yes, all too well," Dei said. "Which is why they thought that our home-world which shares Earth's orbit was also uninhabited. But the problem is, that probe landed outside one of our shipyard factories. Luckily, the probe was pointed in the other direction not even noticing the factory behind it, but still, a guard smashed it before it could even take pictures of it. It deployed from a satellite in orbit around our planet, taking pictures of its surface. And I sent a ship to blow it up."

"May I still ask why we're being so secretive around those hairless monkeys?" Rex asked. "Why bother if we're not gonna take them over? We had our chance while they were still pre-industrial. In fact, we would of have our chance over 50 years ago before they discovered how to split the atom."

"We have our chance now!" Dei called.

"Yeah," began Quack-pot. "But now they have strategic air command, nuclear powered submarines, and John Wayne. What do we have against that?"

"Your recent mission ended up with you plasma bombarding an entire planet," Dei growled. "Until it was nothing more than black, volcanic glass."

Rex took off his uniform's jacket and threw it at Quack-pot.

"Moron!" he bellowed.

"We are still more advanced than those stupid, evolved monkeys," said Dei. "A thousand times more advanced. If we want that planet, we can take it! But the only problem we have is the resources. In fact, I wish you hadn't wasted your energy blowing up a planet to prove a point to those rebellious Dinosaucers. The council thinks you were over zealous, Rex."

"They pissed me off," Rex growled.

"Our recent scouting report has returned with findings of the resources we need on our twin sister planet," continued Dei. "All you have to do is go and get it."

"How?" Rex asked. "There are six billion humans on that planet and according to recent reports, within the last decade one of their major superpowers is in the middle of a war all because some religious zealots crashed two civilian aircraft into two skyscrapers of one of their large cities."

"But notice how they're handling it," Dei continued. "They're scared. And a scared monkey can be a dangerous hazard."

"Yeah, they'll fling shit at you," snorted Brachio.

"If I wanted your opinion, I would have beaten it out of you!" Rex bellowed.

"Yes, sir," he sighed.

"Anyway," Genghis Rex returned his stone gaze back at Chancellor Dei. "What is it do you want me to do about Earth?"

"That planet is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off," Dei's scaly lips curled into a fanged grin. "And I want you to light the fuse."

"What for?"

"Well, as you stated, there's 6 billion of those apes infesting that planet," Dei crossed her long, slender arms. "And the only way we're going to get the resources we need to continue our interstellar empire is to remove them right? Well, why should we waste what precious resources we have left to do that? Why not let them remove themselves?"

"You mean have them blow themselves to oblivion instead?" Rex asked.

"Exactly," Dei nodded.

"And how do you propose I do that?" Rex snorted back.

"Have your science officer figure that out," she retorted. "But do it quickly. And be subtle about it, Genghis Rex. The last thing I want to happen is one of those rebel Dyrios showing up to lend a helping claw to the humans after finding out about your noisy attempt."

Then, her image clicked off and the screen returned to showing the image of the planet Jupiter that they were just passing. Rex cocked his brow and glanced back at Plesio.

"Well, you're the genius," he began. "Any ideas on how we can do this subtly, Lieutenant Commander?"

Plesio perked his head up and scratched under his chin with a black talon. Then, his crimson eyes lit up: "From our reports, we know that Earth has had a global network of satellites ever since Sputnik."

"Go on," Rex urged.

"The satellites work in helping them communicate with each other much faster than they used to," Plesio continued. "Everything can travel faster. They have television, digital phone, cell phone service, even their military uses various satellites to coordinate strategic commands to their troops and to keep an eye on things. They even use satellites to spy on each other."

"So do we," Rex snorted. "What's your point?"

"Well, since everything is connected in this enormous network," Plesio stood up. "If we disrupt that network, it'll bring about chaos to the planet."

"Dei said subtly," Rex growled.

"It can be done subtly, Rex," Plesio slowly slithered over to his commanding officer. "Very easily. A computer virus can do it. A worm that will eat its way through the network, shutting down airports, cutting service to cell phones and TV stations, shutting off all satellite communication. If we do it correctly, then the humans may think instead of an alien force causing this, one of their enemies would be at fault of it. They would be pointing the fingers at their enemies and then—they'll be pointing their weapons at their enemies and vice versa. I see thousands of megatons of TNT being blasted into the Earth's atmosphere, roasting every one of those disgusting mammals. They would have glassed themselves to death!"

"And dumping enough radiation in the atmosphere to roast us too," Genghis Rex growled. "We'll be reduced to mining the planet like we mine asteroids, under a lot of insulation."

"It'll be worth the price," said Plesio. "We'll need to find a suitable satellite to feed the virus in."

"We did have some ideas to conquer the planet and make it another home," said Rex. "But with the radiation, that would be difficult to do."

"For a while Earth may seem like a radioactive wasteland, but we can terraform the planet after the humans obliterate themselves," said Plesio. "We have that ability."

"Alright, you've convinced me," Rex growled. "Program the virus."

"As you wish, Supreme Commander," Plesio chuckled.

"Ankylo!" Rex called. "Find me a suitable satellite to infect with Plesio's virus."

"Perhaps a satellite connected to the military grid will do, Rex," Ankylo began as his stubby fingers tapped at his holographic keyboard.

"The virus can be fed into various satellites," said Plesio. "But we don't need to infect them all, one or two will do the trick."

"Send one virus through the military grid, and another through the civilian grid," said Rex. "Program it to be self replicating. Not only that, but I want the virus to also be programmed to upload to the _Y'thcor_ information on the humans, their bases, their military secrets, points of interest, anything that could help us succeed in this. Also, I want to know who it was that built that probe."

"Sir?" Ankylo asked, confused.

"You heard me," Rex growled. "The probe, the one sent to Reptilon. I want to know who built it. If the upload to our database can tell us that, then, we may have a fallback plan if this doesn't work. No doubt which government and which personnel in their militaries that built that probe may have a high clearance in their government or know who does. We can use that to our advantage." He settled back down into his chair, feeding his long, thick tail through the hole at the back. "Call it Plan B."

"What's Plan C?" Brachio asked.

"Plan C?" Rex asked, his claws curling up into fists. "We glass the planet! Now, shut up and get to work!"

Rex ordered the other ships to depart for Reptilon while his ship made it towards Earth. He knew that the Earth did have may eyes and ears pointed towards the stars and he had to make sure his massive ship would not be detected. He thanked whatever power out there that Reptilonian technology included cloaking devices.

"We're approaching Earth, Rex," said Edmont Quack-pot.

"Cloak the ship, Lieutenant," Rex began. "I don't want those mammals to know we're coming."

"Engaging cloak," Edmont nodded.

"Scanning for a suitable military satellite, Rex," Plesio announced. "Found one. It's located on what the mammals call the Clark Belt around the equator. A spy satellite."

"Perfect," Rex grinned. "Lock onto its frequency."

"I've programmed the virus," said Plesio. His slender, taloned fingers flew across the holo-panel. A grin spread slowly across his scaly lips as the holographic screen in front of him zoomed onto the satellite before him. A target cross-hair zoomed the image even closer. Then, he commanded the computer to tune into the frequency the satellite was projecting.

"I have a lock, sir," he hissed.

"Good," Rex glanced back at the evolved Styxosaur. "Send the virus through."

"Uploading," Plesio informed as he watched the gauge on his screen fill up to the top. "The virus is in."

"How long will it take before we see any effects?" Rex asked.

"It's instantaneous, Rex," Plesio replied. "Not only that, we should be getting the information on who sent the probe within a few minutes."

"Excellent," Rex leaned back in his chair. "Now, find me a civilian satellite."

"I spotted a weather satellite not far from this one," said Plesio. "We can just tune into its frequency."

His screen moved over to the other satellite he found and he zoomed into it as well. Once he pinged the satellite, he fed the virus on through.

"There," he said. "It's done. The moment the virus starts eating its way through their global networks, we shall start seeing small, isolated incidents. A plane crash here and there and such."

"Wonderful," Rex said with a chuckle. "We'll just sit here and watch the fun. All the mayhem I'm about to create on this primitive world, I should sell tickets."

Ankylo glanced down at his own screens at his station and noticed something flickering at the corner. He tapped his stubby fingers on the holo-panel and zoomed in on a ripple in space that caused the stars behind it to twinkle more. His gold eyes lit up and he swung his chair around.

"Rex!" he called. "Commander! We've got company."

"What?" asked Rex, tapping a button his chair as he pulled up the image that Ankylo was seeing onto the main view screen. That was when he saw a single ship come in through a rift in space, a cruiser, which then faded into invisibility. "What was that?"

"I managed to get a scan of it," said Plesio. "But not a good one. The moment it came in, it cloaked. Though I did get a signature of its engines. They match the signature of a Tyranno battle cruiser, specifically, the _Char'yur_."

"That ship was last reported on a mission to a supposed Dyrio resistance outpost," said Brachio.

"What happened to it?" Rex asked.

"Never reported," said Brachio.

"Dinosaucers!" Rex gasped. "Those Dyrio bastards must have highjacked the ship."

"What do you plan to do?" asked Quack-pot.

"Just because it can cloak doesn't mean we don't have the means to locate it," said Rex. "Plesio, scan for the signature trail of that ship's engines."

"Aye, sir," Plesio nodded.

Rex gave a scratch to the feathered ruff on his jawline. He let loose a deep and agitated growl, beginning to think who exactly it was that highjacked that ship.

"It's crossing over the terminator to the night side of the planet," Plesio replied. "The planet has obstructed my scans. I shall attempt to calculate a good reflecting point to continue scanning for the ship."

"The humans can't scan us while we're cloaked," said Genghis Rex. "Nor can they even detect our position. But just a precaution, I'd like to pull the ship back behind their natural satellite until the virus has worked it's way through."

"We'll still be able to receive transmissions from the virus if we land on the planet's natural satellite," said Plesio.

"Ankylo," Rex bellowed. "Take us out of orbit and head for the Earth's natural satellite."

"Aye, aye, Genghis Rex," the ankylosaur snorted again.

"And what of that ship?" asked Brachio.

"Plesio will keep scanning it," Rex replied. "I want to know who is that's commanding that ship."

"We know it's the Dinosaucers," said Styraco. "That's what they've been doing lately in order to get a hold of military ships. They highjack them. They don't have the resources now to build powerful and fast ships like ours on their own yet. Not only that, they also sabotage supplies coming in and out of the solar system. They are determine to break Tyranno hold."

"Watch it closely, Plesio," said Rex. "Why would the Dinosaucers be interested in Earth?"

"No doubt the message you received from Chancellor Dei has been tapped into by a Dinosaucer spy hiding out somewhere," said Plesio. "We never found who it was because we weren't looking for it. They must have sent the message immediately after Dei cut off. That ship must have been rather close to come out of hyperspace so quickly after the transmission."

"The Dinosaucers think they could perhaps help the humans or stop us from helping those horrible mammals blow themselves to the inferno?" Rex growled. "As Dei said, we must do this subtly. Let's not interfere yet, let's just watch for now. But if those Dyrio rebels try to make a move, we'll counter it."

"We don't know if the Dinosaucers intend to help the humans," said Plesio. "It could be like last time over 60 years ago. That civilian research ship that was sent from Reptilon. But we shot it down."

"Shot it down because they were hiding a Dinosaucer on board," Brachio said. "They were going to send him down to the planet and have him hide out in that desert for a few years until we've forgotten about him."

"Aren't we lucky we shot it down before that happened?" Rex chuckled. "Keep monitoring."


	3. No Service

**No Service**

"What is wrong with this TV set?" Jane heard the grunt of a man sitting beside her on the bench. Jane locked her ankles and leaned back and sighed. She noticed that the man wearing the gray blazer and blue jeans was banging his portable TV set with his hand several times. He glanced up at her and shook his head. "It was a gift for my birthday. It's brand new and now it's screwing up. I can't believe this."

"Happy birthday," Jane said with a slight smile.

"It was last month," the man snorted and continued to groan at his TV set. "This thing was supposed to have satellite capabilities. Seems like the satellite isn't even overhead or something."

"You know if you keep banging that thing you'll void your warranty," began another voice from beside her. A shadow came upon her as another man sat down. Jane glanced up and her eyes were wide as she watched the tallest man she had ever seen in her life sit down on the bench beside her. He was wearing light gray sweat pants, a white T-shirt, and a white, zip-up hoodie. This man had mocha colored skin that seemed rather pebbly for some strange reason and shoulder-length black, wavy hair. She could tell that he was finely toned and he obviously worked out. Not only that, he looked almost 9 feet tall. Jane heard about people who suffered from the pituitary gland malfunction of Gigantism, but she never thought she would meet one of them. Though, what was really odd about this particular person was the fact he had only three fingers and a thumb to each hand and each finger was tipped with bony-white talons. Not only that, but his head was shaped oddly. For a moment, she thought he had just a huge nose, but now she thought he had a snout. She blinked for a moment when two brown eyes gazed down and regarded her with curiosity.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked.

"No," she said.

"I know what it is," he chuckled. "It's my height. Yeah, don't worry. I'm used to it. Momma fed me well, I guess."

"I'm sorry," Jane blinked, turning away. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay," he said. He glanced over at the other man who still banged his TV set. "Hey, you're gonna break that thing."

"I think it's already broken," the man growled. "Damn thing's a piece of junk."

Jane sighed and leaned over, shaking her head again: "I hate waiting for the bus."

She heard the sound of a plastic bag rustling and she glanced over to the tall man in the white hoodie beside her. He took out a piece of jerky and placed it into his mouth, ripping it with his rather sharp looking teeth. He glanced down and offered her a piece.

"Want some?" he asked. "It's honey barbecue."

"No thanks," she replied.

The large man shrugged. Just then, the bus pulled up, the sounds of its breaks squeaking caught all three of their attentions. Jane and the two men stood up and prepared to board the bus. She glanced back noticing the man in the hoodie having to duck down a bit lower in order to fit himself inside the bus. He continued to hunch over as they made their way to their seats, giving the driver their tokens. She sat down in a window seat and she noticed the tall man glancing down at her again.

"You mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"No," she smiled pertly. The strange-looking man sat down, pulling the armrest up so he could fit in. She felt a pull just as the bus started to move. Her seat hopped up and down with the vibration of the road beneath her.

"What the fuck is wrong with my phone?" Jane heard another person at the back call. "It says there's no service."

The big man turned around to look over the back of the chair.

"I don't understand it," said the teenage boy behind him. "I usually get great service here."

"Maybe you need to switch providers," the large man called with a slight grin.

"My carrier is the best," said the teenager. "I got AT&T."

The man popped another strip of jerky in his mouth and ripped it with his teeth again. He settled himself back down and glanced back at Jane.

"I'm a Verizon Wireless man myself," he said.

"That's nice," Jane nodded. _Just get away from me. freak. I wouldn't be here if my jeep wasn't broken._

Obviously, the man got the hint that she was not in a talkative mood and he leaned back down and glanced over to his side away from her. Jane glanced out the window and she rode the bus all the way to her next stop in silence. The tall man glanced up when he heard the sound of someone get up behind him. It was the teenager. The tall man let out a yelp of surprise when he felt the kid's hands slide into his back pocket and pull out his phone.

"Hey!" the tall man called.

"I'm just borrowing it," the teenage boy called defensively. "I need to call my mom."

"Don't you know how to ask first?" the tall man growled.

The teenager flipped cover up and looked at the phone. He paused for a moment to see how it was constructed. Like most phones, this one had a lot of blue lights on the buttons, but it also had other things he could not identify. The moment he flipped the phone up, an image was projected on the touch pad surface. It looked like a letter 'D' with something that looked like a dragon's head sticking out at the corner and roaring silently. Jane glanced at it and then her eyes lit up, recognizing the symbol.

"Hey, kid," the man called. But just before he could protest more, the teenager tapped the touch sensitive screen and activated the phone. A connection was made and a voice touched with a Scottish accented, masculine voice sounded through the speaker.

"Allo?" he asked. "Allo? Is that you?"

"Allo?" the kid asked. "Hey, I want information. I'm trying to reach my mom."

"Allo?"

"Who the hell is Allo?" the kid asked. Then the tall man with the hoodie snatched the phone from the kid's hand and growled annoying at him.

"I'm Allo!" he bellowed, gripping the kid's forearm tightly. "And I don't appreciate pick pockets."

"Whatever," the kid shrugged. "Seems like you're the only one with phone service."

"Like I said, kid," Allo shrugged. "You should switch providers." He turned to his phone and held it up to his ear. "Sorry, Dimetro. Some bratty teenager grabbed my phone. I'll call you back later."

"I'm not bratty," the kid sniffed, shrinking back to his seat.

"I call you bratty," Allo swung back over the back of the chair. "Because you took my phone without asking!"

"Whatever," the kid shrugged and glanced out the window.

"Kids these days," he sighed, placing his phone back in his back pocket.

"You know," Jane began. "You shouldn't put your phone in your back pocket. My brother did that once and he smashed it when he fell."

"I'll keep that in mind," Allo sniffed.

"Uh, that symbol," Jane began. "The desktop wallpaper on your phone. Where is it from?"

"Huh?" he asked. "Oh, that. Picked it up online somewhere. Thought it looked interesting and so I put it on my phone. You don't know how many people ask me about it." He held out his hand to her. "Well, as you know, my name's Allo. What's yours?"

"Major Jane Spencer," she replied, taking his huge hand.

"Blue uniform, gold oak leaves," Allo began. "Air Force?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "At the Kennedy Space Center."

"Ah, astronaut."

"No," she replied. "I work in the science department there. I've never been in space."

"Ever wanted to?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "I'm—afraid of heights."

Allo let loose a boisterous laugh: "Who ever heard of someone working for the Air Force that's afraid of heights?"

"It's not funny," she said. "Besides, I much rather keep my feet planted firm on the ground."

Just then, the bus pulled up to the bus stop and Jane stood up. Allo pulled in his legs to let her out.

"It's my stop," she said. "Nice talking with you, Allo."

"Same here," he nodded. He glanced down at her seat and noticed that her day planner and pocket book was still lying there. Allo grabbed it and got up, ducking his head again as he rushed towards the front of the bus. The bus started taking off just as Jane got off and the door began to shut behind her.

"Hey!" Allo called. "Open the door, pal."

"What, you want off too?" the driver asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Fine," the driver sighed and stopped the bus to let him off. Allo hopped down and glanced around, trying to find where Jane had gone. He opened the pocket book slowly and glanced down at her driver's license, making sure it was her. There was her driver's license and her military identification. Nodding, he darted after her, spying a fleck of blonde and a mixture of blue over the crowd.

"Hey, Major!" he called. "Major! Wait up!"

Jane was all the way ahead of him and she slowed to a stop, sighing in frustration when she heard his loud, booming voice calling after her.

"God, what does he want now?" she sighed.

"Major!" Allo called, running up to her as she turned around. "You left this on the bus."

"My day planner and pocket book!" she gasped.

"I had a feeling it was important," he said. She took it out of his hands.

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate that. My credit cards and money was in there."

"Can't be too careful, right?" Allo asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Thank you," Jane repeated again. "I'll see you around."

"Sure," he said. "I'm in the neighborhood. I own an antique store just a few blocks from here. Bone china is my specialty."

"Bone china?" she asked.

"Don't know if it's real or not unless you hold it up to the light and see the shadow of your finger against the back," Allo replied. "Very old stuff too. Imported from Spain. Some of it has gold painted into the trim."

"Sounds nice," Jane said. "Well, the shop where my jeep is isn't too far from here. I'll walk. I'll talk to you later, Allo."

"Bye," he waved.

"Oh, and a word of advice," Jane began, walking backwards down the sidewalk. "You might wanna see a manicure. Those finger nails are a bit long."

"I'll think about that," Allo waved as she turned around again. He snorted: "Manicure. Hah!"

Ducking back into a corner of a Spanish-styled building, Allo pulled out his cell phone again.

"Dimetro," he began. "This is Commander Allo."

"Dimetro here," began the voice on the other end. "Did you find her?"

"Yep," he replied. "Found her. Major Jane Hathoway-Spencer. 450 Iris Dr. Cocoa Beach, Florida. She's one of the scientists that worked on Trojan."

"Glad we found her first before the Tyrannos," said Dimetro.

"The damage that virus is doing is getting worse, though," began Allo. "One guy just complained his portable set doesn't work and some kid tried to steal my phone because his didn't have service."

"I'm patched into their global news station, Commander," began Dimetro. "There was a report that they had to cancel a flight from Amsterdam to Paris because no one could pull up the proper flight paths in the computers. Not only that, but the virus seems to be affecting the airlines themselves. It's getting into their system and blinding the pilots."

"There is no doubt about it that their government is trying to keep this low-key for now," Allo sighed. "I wonder how long that'll last."

"By my calculations, Allo," began Dimetro. "Not long at all. Soon, there'll be isolated power outages here and there, and then, a whole power grid might just shut off completely."

"How are you working on the cure?" Allo asked.

"These Tyranno virus protocols are difficult to counteract against," Dimetro growled in frustration through the speaker. "But I'm doing what I can. I don't even know if the counteragent will work."

"It better," Allo sighed. "Or this whole planet might just fall apart."

He heard the sound of something unsnapping around his waist and he felt something wiggle itself free down his pant leg.

"Uh-oh," he whispered. "Dimetro, I'll need to call you back. This tail clamp you gave me is a piece of junk."

"Coming loose again?" Dimetro asked. "Get it fixed before anyone sees it."

Allo closed the phone up with a flip of his claw and turned around. The building he was leaning against was a connivence store. He grabbed hold of his loosened tail and tried to keep it from wiggling all the way down his sweat pant leg. Ducking down through the door he turned to the clerk working behind the counter. He could tell the human was rather startled to see him, taking note of his tall stature.

"Can I use your bathroom?" Allo asked.

"¿Qué?" the clerk asked. Allo's brown eyes lit up, realizing this man didn't understand English.

"Shit," he snarled, feeling around his pockets. "Where's that Spanish dictionary?" He pulled out a book that he had in the pocket of his hoodie and flipped it open, turning the pages with his talons. Finally, he came upon the word he wanted. "Uh...baño?"

"Allí," the clerk replied, pointing down towards the back.

"Gracias," Allo smiled back as he headed for the back of the store.

"Déscupe, señor," the clerk called. "¿Puedes leer la muestra?"

"What?" Allo asked.

"He say 'read the sign'," said another rather heavily Cuban-accented voice. Allo turned around to find another clerk with a mop in his hand. The clerk pointed up at a sign above the bathroom which read 'Bathroom to paying customers only' both in Spanish and in English. Allo snorted and sighed.

"You've got to be kidding me," he growled.

"No, señor," the clerk with the mop said. "You have to pay for something to use the bathroom."

"Fine," Allo sighed. He walked over to the counter and grabbed another bag of beef jerky, barbecue style and tossed it onto the counter.

"3.95," the counter clerk said in English as he rung the jerky up. Allo tossed him a 5 dollar bill and the clerk gave him his change. Taking the jerky back with him, he darted for the bathroom and locked the door. Then, he pulled down his sweats and rolled up his shirt. Just as his pants dropped, his powerful, lengthy tail swung free. The tail was covered with a line of dark green and blue feathers going all the way down to the tip and ending in a brush of green tipped with blue. Allo grabbed his hair and then took it off, revealing that it was nothing more than a wig. Some people without any education would mistaken Allo for a creature relating to the Tyrannosaurus, but Allo was in fact an evolved descendant to the Saurophaganax, a species of rather large Allosaurus that grew just as big as the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Paleontologists looking at Allo would then conclude their theories on theropods relations to birds by the long ruff of green and blue feathers growing out from the top of his head and running down his neck and under his shirt, which continued down his back and down his tail. Though despite his saurian appearance, he had some anthropomorphic features to him, such as opposable thumbs, slightly longer arms than his ancestor and a considerable amount of sentient intelligence. Besides that, he was an excellent pilot and a skillful commander. Allo glanced down at the leather belt that he had around his waist that held many different sized, metallic clamps. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his tail and began to wrap it around his waist again and bound it to him with the clamps. Confining his tail like that was rather painful and he did not enjoy it, but he knew it was the feature that the humans would notice the most. Pulling his pants back up, he tucked his shirt in and concealed his tail. Then, Allo put the wig back onto his head and straightened it out.

"I hate the clamp," he sighed as he walked out of the bathroom. Allo made his way back over towards the door and the clerk at the counter waved at him.

"Have a good day," the clerk called. Allo paused and poked his head back through the door.

"Is that all the English you know?" he asked.

"¿Qué?" the clerk asked.

"That answers my question," Allo sighed and walked out. He stuck his claws into the pockets of his jacket and walked down the sidewalk, weaving in and out of the crowd. He paused for a moment when he passed an electronics store that had plasma screen TV sets in the front window. Leaning down, he looked at the images on the screens and watched the flicker, showing some sort of disruption in the transmission they were receiving through the cable line. That was when his eyes caught the glimpse of a strange code flashing on the screen and then disappearing. He blinked, recognizing the code as being the familiar computer language of his home planet. Shaking his head he turned away from the TV sets and continued to walk down the sidewalk. Glancing up at the sky he stared it with determined eyes.

"It's getting worse, Dimetro," he whispered to himself. "I hope you're working hard on that counteragent."

0

Nearly three days ago, they had received the transmission from the probe known as Trojan from the planet of Antichthon. Three days ago, they found life on another planet, and since then, something had gotten into every network on the planet. Tempers were hot at the United Nations and fingers were being pointed. General Emerson watched as the static filled screen of the conference between the UN delegates discussed who did it and why. Though most of the science team had gone home for the day, he decided to stay and watch. He shook his head as he heard the councilors argue through the speakers. A news lady came on the screen and stated that the United State's government had suspected that the attack on their network was caused by some sort of terrorist, though they could no say who it was. Emerson heard many government officials state that an attack like this would never have been made by any country in the Middle East because of the sophistication of the technology involved to create an attack. They did not have the technology advanced enough to create a virus that could spread this quickly and easily. The virus was everywhere, it was in the satellites that broadcasted television programs, it was in the Internet, it was in the phone lines, and even in the cell phone service and various other wireless networks. The connectivity at the Air Force base near Kennedy Space Center had been slowed to a crawl despite the upgrade to the broadband line they had received. He could barely even pull up his email and when he finally pulled it up, most of it was in some sort of strange code. Worse yet, this virus had managed to feed itself into the military grid. Though he knew that various unconventional weapons such as the nuclear missiles would be safe from the virus because they require hands on launching and codes written down on hardcopy, he worried about what this virus was doing to the rest of the military. Army, Marine, and Naval personnel stationed out in areas like Iraq, still fighting the drudging war would loose all communications with their superiors. Aircraft sent to bomb the area would not know where to bomb because of loss of satellite feed from the ground. They could be bombing their own troops or even friendly allies all because of this virus. Emerson hated drawing at the worst straws, but here he could not help it. This virus could start a full on World War III, make enemies that hid in the shadows come out and declare war. He ran his hands through his salt and pepper hair and stared back at the television set in his office. Then, he glanced back and opened up the cabinet that held his most secret of documents. Once more he pulled out the papers on the Roswell incident and the images that he had in his possession.

"Antichthon," he whispered, staring at the three dead bodies of evolved dinosaurs. "Why do I have a feeling that you're behind this?"

Emerson had received a report from Washington that the Pentagon was already gathering a team of specialists to figure out where the virus had come from and who sent it. He was asked to be among them, but he stated he had his own meeting to go to. Already he received conformations from the scientists who agreed to appear at the base to discuss the Trojan incident. He wondered if how he could even bring it up that there could be a connection between the two. There was no doubt about it though, there was a connection. The probe being destroyed and then a virus right afterwards? He could not chalk that up to coincidence. Emerson was not that idiotic.

"You could have easily done it 10 years ago, 20 years ago," he sighed looking at the images. "But you chose now to attack? Why now?"

Somewhere deep in his mind, he knew his questions would go unanswered. The answers did not matter anymore, though they did help somewhat. Protecting the planet was his only option, but he wondered how all of Earth's military could do it. Everyone was at ends with each other, there was no agreement with anyone. So, because of that, if it was the United States, or Britain, or Russia, or anyone else who figured it out that the attack did not originate from Earth, they would never truly agree to come together to form an opposing force to Antichthon. He wondered even if the higher status of office within the United States would even believe that this attack did not originate from any sort of enemy on the planet.

"I knew the probe was a bad idea, but the bureaucrats wanted it," he sighed. Emerson shut off the set and got up out of his chair, locking the Roswell incident back in the cabinet. He put his jacket on and then his hat and slowly walked out of his office, locking it behind him. As he turned the corner, walking out, he heard talking from one of the enlisted airmen.

"Man, my connection just seems to be getting worse," one of the Airman began. "My kid can't do his report on Egypt for his history class because we kept loosing connectivity last night."

"Same over at my house," said another airman. "I was downloading something rather—hot last night and then, my computer just froze. I thought it was some sort of spyware or virus and I did a scan on it and, it didn't come up with anything. I don't know what's wrong with it."

"Yesterday, at my house, the power went out for a few minutes," said the first airman. "Long enough for the clocks in the house go all screwy. Then, it came back on. But it happened again later on last night."

"Is it terrorists?" the second airman asked.

"I don't know," said the first airman.

Emerson came out from behind the corner and cleared his throat, calling the attention of the two airman.

"Uh, General, sir!" they both called, saluting.

"At ease," said Emerson. "You two should be going home to your families."

"Yes, sir," the first one nodded.

"We were just doing that, sir," said the second airman.

"Dismissed," Emerson said as he saluted back.

"Thank you, sir," the two chimed and dashed off out of his sight. Emerson let loose another sigh. He pulled out his own cell phone and glanced down at it. Though cell phones were not allowed inside the base facility because of their GPS, they were allowed only if they were turned off. Emerson made his way outside the building and turned it on to see what service he had. He noticed that he barely even had full bars on the screen. Though, he knew outside the building he often received good reception. Emerson knew it was the virus. He glanced up at the clear blue sky and then back at the launch pad near the Kennedy Space Center. Today would have been a good day to launch the shuttle to see what as going on up there, but given what was happening, he did not want to risk it. He tried to even pull up images from Hubbell to see if it managed to catch something. If the space telescope did take a picture of something coming towards Earth, given what was happening with the network, there would be no way of accessing it. The grid needed to be fixed before Emerson could see if Hubbell did capture something. Emerson turned back towards the west and saw the sun begin to slowly descend down into the trees. He wondered though if there was some sort of meaning as to why he was watching the sunset. Was it at last the final sunset of humanity? Emerson did not want to think about that, he just wanted to go home and rest. Somewhere in his mind, he wanted this to be all a bad dream. He could not imagine how much worse it could be tomorrow. The team that he managed to organized to discuss the Trojan incident was going to be late, a few days late because of delays in flight. Most of them had to catch a bus because they did not trust the airlines with the network screwing up so much lately. He could not blame them. One of the scientists coming over, the paleontologist he ordered, was coming in all the way from Arizona. The paleontologist Dr. Enok Keller was in the middle of an excavation of some fossil that sparked his interests.

As Major-General Emerson walked out the gate, granting a salute from the guard as he made his way towards his car, he started to think more about what will happen when the sun rises tomorrow. As the sun slowly disappeared in a wash of crimson, violet, and gold, Emerson stepped into his car and drove off through the second gate. The future was not looking bright for him or for the whole planet.


End file.
